[Error: unknown template qotd]Many years ago, when I lived in Newbrough, I was driving my MGBGT to work along a country road, when I hit a patch of black ice; I couldn't do the correct thing by driving into the skid as someone was in the way, so I did the wrong thing, performed a wall-of-death along the bank, turned right over in mid-air and landed right-side up and at right angles to the road facing the opposite hedge. When I realised I couldn't control the car, I hurled myself face down onto the front passenger seat, as I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I couldn't believe that I was totally unscathed, although a few pieces of windscreen had landed up in the tops of my boots; even the radio was still playing.

The car was a wreck all down the driver's side, with the worst damage where my head would have been; it must have been the one accident in a million which would have been worse for the driver had she been wearing the seat belt. I got out of the car and immediately slipped on the black ice and gave the people in the other car the impression that I was worse than I actually was.

The driver of the other car was none other than the mechanic who was supposed to be giving the MG a service that day, and had I remembered that, the accident would never have happened, because I would have dropped the car off at the garage which was between home and the place of the accident.

He rushed over and said "Are you all right?", to which I replied "My car, my car, look at my beautiful car". He rashly said "Don't worry about that, I can fix that. Are you all right?"

I insisted on going to work and when I went into the general office I met a very upset chap who had passed the accident and didn't know where I was.

I say that I was unscathed, but that evening in the pub I started to cry and someone gave me a cigarette, which led me to take up smoking again after a gap of four years and it was another nine years before I managed to give it up again. And I did have an aching shoulder for a few days where the briefcase on the passenger seat had clobbered me at some stage during the incident.

I have never again driven without a seat belt, as I reckon that a similar freaky escape from death or serious injury by virtue of not wearing a seat belt was unlikely to ever happen to me again.

And Brian the mechanic did restore my car to its former glory, in fact it was even better, because we changed the colour from boring old white to super-duper British Racing Green.

I spent some of the afternoon repotting my new dwarf acer into the large pot I bought last week. Then I transplanted the tomatoes A sent me into a growbag, cleared out the weeds from the honeysuckle tub and took off all the dead wood; it looks much better now. I cleared all the weeds from the tub with the self-seeded buddleiaand a large lavender.

I adore the scent of lavender and have it in everything I can. My Grandma loved it too, but as far as I can remember, she never grew it, I wonder why not!

I also planted some Morning Glory seeds, because it said on the packet you can still plant them in May. I read the packet which said that germination is aided by soaking them for 24 hours in warm water, but I forgot about them and soaked them for 48 hours. When I came to plant them I discovered they had already started germinating, but I didn't know whether the sprout was the leaf end or the root end. I consulted the resident biology expert, but he didn't know either. So I planted them sprout upward in those little peat blob things and I've put them into a germinator on the dining room windowsill. I hope it works; I want lots of Heavenly Blue Morning Glories.

While at the windowsill, I discovered that the last lot of planted things have been going mad so I left the lid off the germinator and shall have to try to transplant them tomorrow, if it doesn't rain.

I shall have to remember to look up Lily of the Valley, because I really love those too, but I believe you have to plant them at some strange time of the year, or do arcane things to the corms or bulbs or whatever they are.

All the time I was doing all this I was thinking how nice it would be when my Sis comes to stay, and how we could sit out there with our coffee, or reading books, because the last two years when she has come, the yard pots hadn't been done, because I wasn't well enough, not to mention the awful summers we had.So I feel quite sad after speaking on the telephone this afternoon to find that she can't come this year.

Tomorrow I must clear out the wooden trough opposite the back door and plant the clematis I bought two weeks ago. It's thriving there, even though it's still in its pot, so, fingers crossed, it will continue growing and flowering all summer. It may not be Heavenly Blue, but it's still very pretty!

Everything is doing very well, except the runner beans; the leaves are not only being eaten by cats, but apparently by slugs or snails as well! Drat! I meant to put some slug killer down.

It's beginning to look quite nice out there, even though I have still such a lot to do. The worst thing is the dirt! We definitely need to give the whole yard a thorough brushing and then use the power hose on it. If I get Charles in the right mood, I'll get him to do it. He loves messing about with the hose pipe. He helped me water the plants with plant food dissolved in the water this afternoon, so we hope everything will flourish even more!

This evening I watched a programmewith Ian Hislop talking about Poets Laureate. It was one of those lovely programmes which remind you why you still pay the licence fee! It made me remember to look up The Poetry Archivewhen I came back upstairs. I've been meaning to look at it for ages, but forgetting. What a wonderful resource! It would be worth Andrew Motion being Laureate for that alone! I sent them an e-mail saying that I was sad they had nothing by Gillian Allnutt. It says on the site that they don't reply, but I don't care about a reply; I just hope it makes someone think "Ah! Yes! Gillian! We must get her to read something for us!"

Sadly I shan't be able to go to her next Poetry awayday, because I can't afford it now that I have enormous gas and electric bills to pay, buggrit!